Baseball, softball and related sports are very popular, and may be enjoyed by players possessing even the most basic batting or racket skills. However, many players, from novices to professionals, desire to improve their batting skills through repetitive practice. These batting skills include eye/hand coordination, proper batting stance/posture, control of bat speed and proper arm extension and wrist action. As a result, numerous mechanical devices have been developed to assist these players in improving their batting skills. These mechanical devices include both manually and automatically operated machines used to either sequentially throw the ball to the batter, release the ball down an inclined ramp into the batter's "strike zone" for hitting, or release a ball down a chute towards an upwardly inclined extension.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,823 to Chanko discloses a batting practice device using a guideway or runway to guide the ball from a magazine tube into a path simulating that of a pitched ball. The guideway is formed from a pair of parallel spaced wire portions which extend downwardly from the tube and then curve upwardly. However, in operation, the player or batter is able to view the ball from its position of rest inside the magazine tube and throughout its travel on the wire guideway before being launched into an unguided path. As a result, the batter can anticipate the discharge of the ball from the guideway, thereby making it extremely easy for the batter to prepare and execute a proper swing utilizing the appropriate batting skills. However, this practice method is not realistic since, in competition, a batter does not have the luxury of anticipating the ball by viewing the moving ball as it accelerates through a known path. As a result, this device fails to force the batter to combine his batting knowledge and skills into a swing made on a split second decision without unnecessary anticipation. Moreover, since the batter is permitted to view the ball throughout its delivery, the device fails to test or challenge and, thereby, improve the player's eye to hand coordination skill, bat speed and wrist action.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,606 to Leps discloses a ball pitching device using ramps to direct and launch a ball. However, the launch ramp is open so that the batter may view the ball as it rolls the length of the ramp, thereby allowing the batter to anticipate the launch or discharge of the ball.
Other attempts to test or challenge, and thereby improve a player's batting skills include machines which by various mechanical means hurl or propel a ball to the player at various intervals, velocities, angles and heights. By adjusting such delivery characteristics as speed and trajectory, the degree of difficulty of a particular pitch can be substantially modified as desired. Such machines, however, generally incorporate a combination of complex spring biased structural elements which become worn or broken. Preferably, a ball pitching device should provide a simple and effective means for allowing the player to vary the speed and trajectory of each pitch or series of pitches, while also preventing the player from anticipating when the ball will reach the player.